


how are your lungs? (are they in pain)

by mclov3ly



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: A thousand words isnt really slow build but its gradual, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Kinda?, M/M, Slice of Life, Slow Build, i dont know how to tag this, i loved writing this tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 03:11:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17993738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mclov3ly/pseuds/mclov3ly
Summary: The house they put him up in was shoddy. The floor was creaky constantly, the door to the backyard was apparently jammed closed and the entire house looked like it hadn't been renovated or touched by humans since the 70's.





	how are your lungs? (are they in pain)

**Author's Note:**

> tedgens is something huh? love that shit. i have more in my drafts but it doesn't make sense without me finishing my other works so, yup,,, i don't know if those will be posted any time soon

Witness protection program his ass, Ted huffed as the PIEP lady gave him a backpack full of clothes a size too small and shoved him into a random town on the coast. 

Paul and company were also put into houses, but god, maybe perishing in the ‘apotheosis’ would have been better than what actually happened.

Ted grimaced, a shiver racking his body at the image of the theatre and echoing sound of explosions. 

The house they put him up in was shoddy. The floor was creaky constantly, the door to the backyard was apparently jammed closed and the entire house looked like it hadn't been renovated or touched by humans since the 70's.

Ted fumbled for his phone and bit his lip, pulling up Charlotte's number before stuffing it back in his pocket and trudging upstairs to the most likely mold filled bed, and sinking into a uncomfortable sleep.

 

Two months in, and he wasn't any better since he was first moved here.

Emma and Paul had taken to a homestead in Colorado. Growing a pot farm Paul said over the monthly dinner they held. Which yeah, it's happened twice but that makes it monthly.

Professor- Henry was going to a counselor apparently, but he still worked as a biology teacher at a school way out of town so he wasn't in town a lot.

Ted didn't want to admit that the older man was probably the most solid footing he had in his new life as ‘Joey’.

Oh yeah, that was his new name according to PIEP. Joey. What a dumb name. They also made him shave, but he hasn't touched a razor since so a hefty amount of facial hair has accumulated since then.

Maybe he should shave again. He scratched his jaw half-mindedly shuffling around the office space he worked in.

 

Worked in. Past tense.

He got fired.

Ted flopped on the bed he will no longer have in a couple weeks unless he can scrounge up money for food.

He need to sell something or starve and one of those options seemed infinitely better. 

He grabbed his phone, staring at Charlotte's number before calling Henry.

“Ted?”

He sighed, any nervousness seemed to seep from his bones and let him sink further into the mattress.

“Hey.”

Henry’s voice wasn't distant but it was a bit muffled. “I'm driving home right now,” that made sense. “What's wrong?”

“I can't call just to say hi? How accusatory,” Ted said, heat rising to face.

“Ted, I may have only met you 4 months ago, but I know you don't call unless something bad has happened.”

“Says who?”

Henry laughed lightly over the line, bringing a new shade of red over Ted's face. “Fine, how have you been? I haven't heard from you since last month.”

“You want the short version?”

“I'll take any version, Ted.”

He took in a deep breath, sitting up in bed, ignoring the creaking of the springs and his own knees, “I got fired from my job a couple weeks ago, and I can't find anywhere hiring right now.”

“Predicament.”

Pause.

“Yeah I guess,” Ted sighed, shuffling down the stairs of the house. It still wasn't his. Never will be.

“Well, I know a couple places here that are hiring,” the sound of the car turning off. “Of course if you don't mind driving out 5 hours every morning.”

Ted mulled it over, eyes blurring as he scanned the empty fridge for the fiftieth time that day. “Uh,” he droned for a moment, losing any train of thought he could of had.

“Have you eaten or slept recently? You sound out of it,” Henry said, a jingle of keys and the sound of a door unlocking.

“I sleep,” Ted responded, closing the fridge and shuffling to the garage door. “Eating not so much.”

Henry hummed, “You should come over and eat dinner.”

“Now?”

“Probably not now, considering the long drive.”

Ted sat in the driver's seat of his car, autopilot as he started the car and clicked the clicker to open the garage door. “Oh.”

“You're already in your car, aren't you?”

“Yeah.”

Not a sigh but a breath passes over the line, “Alright, I'll see you at 2.”

 

Ted moved in with Henry.

He doesn't know when it happened, but eventually he never drove back to the beaten old townhouse by the coast, opting to sleep on Henry's couch and carpooling to the Olive Garden he got a job at.

 

They got a cat. Or Henry got a cat, Ted’s gotten the brute end of the scratching.

Henry ran his hand through Milo's fur, grading a thesis paper.

Ted crossed his legs under himself, leaning over to whisper to the cat, “Piece of shit.”

“Maybe if you didn't call him that,” Henry mumbled, circling a word on the paper, before raising the pen to his lips again. “He'd actually like you.”

“I've tried,” Ted argued, rocking back and forth as the drone of the tv filled the silence of conversation.

Henry laughed lightly, a sound that still flutters Ted's heart like a schoolgirl.

 

Ted may have accidentally taken him out on a date.

Maybe. Ted didn't know. It was just going to the theatre cause a local troupe was putting on Spring Awakening and Ted knew that Henry enjoyed theatre.

It may have been the way Henry slipped his hand into Ted's on their way home.

Or the way that they touched knees at a small diner before the show.

Ted’s probably wrong, it's nothing, reading between blurred lines.

 

He was.

Oh my god he was so wrong and couldn't be happier.

The monthly dinner dissipated but they still met every once and awhile. This time was New Years.

Emma and Paul were giggling and drunk in the corner, Bill and Charlotte were catching up as Alice and a couple friends from her school were fucking around by the fire pit.

Oh they were on a roof, with a fire pit and pool. It was a chilly night so that was a no go, but the fire was lit.

The countdown came faster than normal.

It probably didn't at all, but it still felt fast.

Maybe Ted was getting old, that's why.

“5.”

An echo from the teens.

“4.”

Emma grossly pulled Paul into a kiss, drunkenly giggling to each other.

“3!”

Some teens made eyes at each other. Ted grimaced.

“2!”

Henry reached over and put his hand on Ted's neck, leaning down to press a light kiss to his forehead as the fireworks let off and cheers broke loose from the company.

“Oh.” Ted mumbled, face bright red as Henry laughed at him.

“What's that ‘Oh’ for?” Henry asked, a smile on his face.

Ted's face burned, he fumbled for the front of Henry's shirt and pulled him down into a proper kiss. Ted was used to noncommittal kisses with wives of other men just looking for  _ something.  _ This wasn't like those.

Henry laughed again as they parted. “I'll take that as a yes to dinner tomorrow?”

“Of fucking course,” Ted said, burying his face into Henry's neck, ignoring the bubbling laughter in his throat as his idiocy hit him like a truck.

 

Emma gasped, putting her glass down on the table, “First of all, you are so dumb!”

Ted buried his face in his hands, ignoring the laughter from his boyfriend and ex-colleagues. “Shut up!”

“Aw, Ted,” Charlotte coo'd, running a hand down his arm. “What a poor baby.”

Bill rolled his eyes, as everyone continued to tease Ted. “Leave the man alone.”

Emma pointed her fork at the father of the group, “Look sir, this is going to be one of the only times I'll be able to make fun of Ted and he'll actually be embarrassed. I'm taking it.”

“I didn't know Ted had emotions,” Paul said absent mindedly, almost ignoring the laugh that echoed over the table.

Henry leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Ted's temple, forcing an embarrassed “Henry!” from the latter. 

A bubble of laughter covered the table, earning weird looks from the other patrons.

Ted wanted to die. At least he'd die happy though.


End file.
